


let me be your girl

by LoveWithAGirl



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, Getting Together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-12
Updated: 2019-03-12
Packaged: 2019-11-16 01:37:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18084923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoveWithAGirl/pseuds/LoveWithAGirl
Summary: Crushes on girls are butterflies and bruised hearts and battering rams, and Beau's been aching for years now.





	let me be your girl

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Let Me Be Your Girl](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9452546) by [LoveWithAGirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoveWithAGirl/pseuds/LoveWithAGirl). 



> High school au where my girls get together! 
> 
> I gotta fess up, y'all, this is literally an old H50 fic of mine from 2 years ago that i'm re-purposing because I thought the idea fit Beau and Jester so much better and I wanted to see how much I could improve my writing. If, by some odd chance, you read a Kono/Catherine fic two years ago with the same title, please don't report this fic, that was me. It's posted under this account.
> 
> I hope y'all like this one a lot more!

Crushes on girls are butterflies and bruised hearts and battering rams, and Beau’s been aching for years now. 

When she’s 17, Beau shaves the sides of her head. Senior years is about to start, she needs to feel like she can control something, and Jester Lavorre has a type.

Beau isn’t close to Jester, more casual acquaintances than friends, but she’s wanted to kiss her since she turned 13 and Jester showed up to her beach party in a bikini. Beau had invited all of her friends, had made sure to tell them all to bring their other friends so she could have a full-day event and an excuse to get out of stilted family celebrations. Fjord showed up halfway through the day with Jester, and Beau almost thanked him for it, because even during Jester’s awkward phase she was still so fucking pretty. Beau had been privately sure she wasn’t straight before that day, but seeing Jester smiling widely at her had decisively helped her come out as a lesbian.

\--

The Friday before senior year starts is the first football game of the year, and Beau drags Yasha along with her. She jokes that it’s to support her as they watch the senior quarterback break Yasha’s records, but it’s blatantly obvious that she’s watching the cheerleaders on the track instead of the game.

Jester is cheer captain, all bubblegum pink lipstick and high ponytails and sweet smiles, both at a game and in the school halls. She makes plenty of people, Beau included, weak at the knees with that signature look, and she knows it. She isn’t mean, doesn’t use it to get anything but whomever she’s attracted to at the time, and as far as Beau has heard, none of the people Jester hooks up with or dates are left unhappy at the end.

Beau doesn’t know if that makes the stupid crush better or worse.

“Really paying attention to the guy breaking my records, huh?” Yasha asks dryly, draping her arm around Beau’s shoulder to drag her closer on the bleachers. Beau huffs, elbowing the older girl’s side before wrapping her arm around her friend’s waist and dropping her head against a broad shoulder. Yasha laughs softly, voice gentling as she says, “I recognize that dopey look on your face. Want to talk about it?”

“How did you know you wanted to date Zuala?” Beau blurts out, drumming her fingers against her friend’s side as she speaks. Down below, Jester turns to laugh at something another cheerleader says, and Beau sighs heavily before continuing, “Like, how did you know you actually liked her, not just that you thought she was hot?”

“Well, I looked at her, and seeing her smile made my heart beat faster,” Yasha says, fond and easy, and Beau has to smile, squeezing her friend closer. Yasha squeezes her back, glancing down as she asks, “Does that help?”

“Yep.” Beau nods, refusing to look up and meet her friend in the eye when the other teen starts laughing. She’s so fucked, she thinks, watching the cheerleaders start into another routine; yeah, she really wants to kiss Jester, but she really fucking wants to hold her hand, too. 

\--

Yasha makes Beau take her leather jacket to the bonfire after the game. When she laughs in her friend’s face, the taller teen just raises an eyebrow and smirks. “Trust me, Beau, girls like leather jackets. I know I made you buy that so you could ride on my motorcycle, but that isn’t why I wear mine.”

It’s a nice enough night, and Beau thinks she would’ve been fine without the jacket, but she’s glad for it, feels a little braver with it, like it’s a costume and she can pretend she belongs here. She doesn’t usually run with this crowd, likes sparring and studying more with the other ‘troublemakers’ more than partying at night with the popular kids, but they’re friendly enough that she doesn’t seem out of place to anyone but herself. Beau recognizes everyone from their small high school, but she still takes a while to ease into conversation with anyone, a little too busy looking for the only reason she bothered showing up.

“Hey, Beau!” And she finally stops, turns to see Fjord grinning and winding his way through a crowd over to her. It’s weird to see the scrawny kid she grew up with towering over her now, but his cheerful smile hasn’t changed, stretches wide over his face as he tells her, “Diggin’ the new hair, looks good on you.”

“Thanks, dude,” she tells him, nodding with a grin. She makes a face when he holds up a beer to offer her, and the other teen laughs, shaking his head and tossing her a bottle of water instead. Beau huffs out a laugh, catching it and rolling her eyes. “Thanks. Good game, by the way.”

It’s easy to fall into conversation with him, and she lets herself relax a little, some of her nervous energy settling. A few minutes in, she catches Jester out of the corner of her eye, and it takes all she has not to whip her head around to stare at her. Beau knows she doesn’t have the curves that Jester’s usual hookups and girlfriends have, but she can work with what she’s got. She cocks a hip out and tucks her free hand into her jacket pocket, rolling her shoulders back and tilting her head just to make sure the fire lights up her newly buzzed hair and haphazard bun, and it feels fucking weird but she’s seen it work on other girls before.

Which is why Jester still does not look over at all, of course.

“So,” and Beau takes in a deep breath, smiling at Fjord crookedly before asking, “as the quarterback, do you have an in with the cheer captain?”

Fjord makes a soft sound before grinning slow, eye flicking to her hair as he nods. “Yeah, of course it does. Hang on,” he says, looking over his shoulder before calling out, “Hey, Jess! C’mere!”

“Fjord! Hi!” Suddenly Jester’s  _ there _ , pressing up against Fjord’s side in a tight hug, and Beau freezes, feeling like she’s once more on the outside looking in. It passes, though, and they both look at her, Fjord’s arm draped over Jester’s shoulder and her arm around his waist, gazes piercing like they can see right through her leather jacket bravery. Beau tries to think of something to say, but then Jester grins and tell her, “I’m digging the new look, Beau!”

“Uh, thanks, Jester,” Beau manages, smiling weakly and hoping that they’re far enough from the fire that the blush rising on her cheeks isn’t obvious. She shakes a few loose strands of hair back out of her face and crosses her fingers in her pocket that her voice comes out steady when she says, “You looked good tonight. You, uh, you all did, the routines were cool.”

“Oh, thanks! It was so much to fun,” Jester says, and Beau can’t help the way her eyes flicker down to the other girl’s mouth. She snaps her gaze back up in time to see Fjord smirking at her, and she feels the blush run hot down her neck, but Jester just hums contemplatively, the start of a smile tugging at her the corner of her lips.

“So, what brought on the new haircut anyway?” Fjord asks, and Beau runs her tongue over her teeth, regretting showing him her hand because she fucking knows that he’s angling for her to admit it to Jester. She’s not brave or stupid enough to do that yet, though, so she just shrugs and gives them a lazy grin.

“New year, new me. Might as well change it up for the last go around, right?” She keeps her voice light and steady, and Fjord’s smiling like he can see right through her but Jester just nods and seems to take her words at face value. “Besides, I’ve, uh, always wanted to try some kind of drastic change. Can’t get a tattoo yet, technically, and body piercings aren’t worth the healing time considering how much time I spend at the dojo.” Jester laughs at that, smile stretched wide across her face, and Beau loses her breath at how beautiful it is.

“I totally understand. I’m lucky I never got into martial arts, it would’ve been such a pain to wait for this to heal,” and Beau has never been more grateful for crop tops as she follows Jester’s hand to look at her belly button ring. She’s careful to only glance at it, doesn’t stare at the softness of her stomach like she did during the game, quickly looks back up at her face instead, and Jester looks a little more contemplative as she lets go of Fjord to step closer, reaching out to tug briefly on the edge of Beau’s jacket. “So, I’m guessing you didn’t get this for the cold weather, huh?”

“Nah, my friend Yasha wouldn’t take me out on her motorcycle unless I had proper protective gear. It looks pretty badass, too, so doubly useful,” she explains with a laugh, feeling a surge of confidence as the other teens laugh with her. Fjord ducks down to murmur something into Jester’s ear then, and he winks at Beau as Jester’s cheeks turn pink. Beau can’t help but swallow nervously as the other girl smiles slyly, her blush fading, because she wants to know so badly what that smile would feel like against her own mouth.

Too bad she’s too fucking afraid of Jester even possibly knowing how much she aches with all kinds of want every time she so much as looks at the cheerleader.

“Well, it definitely does look badass. It’s a good look on you,” Jester says as she takes another step closer, and Beau feels butterflies erupt in her stomach, knows that the other girl can definitely see her blushing now. She glances up when Fjord throws a hand up over his friend’s shoulder, resisting the urge to scowl when he winks again before heading over to someone else. “Then again, a lot of things are a good look on you.” Beau is speechless as she locks gazes with Jester again, and the other girl looks like she knows it, smiles sweet but sure as she reaches up to tug her own curls out of their signature ponytail. “You want anything to eat? There’s a shit ton of snacks, we can grab some then talk some more.”

“Yeah! Yeah, uh, that’d be great,” Beau rushes to say, feels like her words are tripping over her tongue and teeth, but Jester just beams and beckons her to follow. Beau walks with her to a table, swallowing hard and trying to think of anything to say that will sound cool, but the cheerleader starts a conversation about class schedules once they’re sitting on someone’s blankets with plates, and Beau finally calms down enough for her tonge to unknot. She’s laughing at a story Jester tells her she heard about the science teacher they’ll share this year when she catches Fjord’s eye across the fire, and his smile for her is warm before he turns his attention back to a purple haired boy that Beau wouldn’t have expected to run with this crowd. Beau is feeling much more at ease when Jester suddenly rests a hand on her knee, smile sweet and voice soft when she talks. “Want to sleep over tonight? My mama always either expects me to bring friends over or stay with friends after football games, so she’ll be fine with it.”

Beau’s mouth is dry again when she looks at Jester's  bright eyes and the way the fire flickers in their reflection, but she swallows hard and curls fingers in the hem of her jacket to remind herself of the bravery she’s been trying to work up all night, takes a deep breath, and smiles wide. “Yeah, I’d like that a lot. Um, I just gotta call my parents and let them know. I mean, they were expecting me to be out all night anyway, just with my friend instead, but they’ll be cool with this, too.” She feels all sorts of flustered, suddenly, bravery warring with the butterflies as she nervously rambles. “I’ll be right back, I’m gonna go call them now.” She feels awkward pushing herself up to stand, tries not to kick sand on Jester as she walks away from the bonfire a bit, taking a deep breath before pulling out her phone.

“Beau, are you okay?” She feels calmer just hearing Yasha’s voice, smiles against her phone because as she listens carefully she can hear the other girl picking up her keys in case she needs to come get Beau.

“Yeah, Yash, I’m all good. Um, I just need a favor, Jester invited me to sleep over and my parents don’t know her. I know they won’t say yes, so i’m gonna tell them I’m going to be studying all night with Caleb. I’m about to text him, but if they call to ask you will you back me up?” There’s her nervous ramble again, but her friend soothes it, voice warm as she promises to cover with her parents and then teases her about her crush, but it’s when she gets serious again that Beau really feels the full wave of Yasha’s love.

“I’ll leave my phone on volume tonight, okay? You call me at any point, I don’t care how late or early, if you need me to come get you. I love you, Beau, and if you need me I will be there. So yes, have fun, and I hope she returns your feelings, but just know that you can call me if you get uncomfortable at any point.” Beau can’t talk for a minute, heart feeling precariously full, and closes her eyes against sudden warmth, but when she finds her voice again she promises she knows and murmurs back that she loves her too. After hanging up she shoots a text to Caleb and then makes a much shorter call to her parents to get their permission, and she’s still holding that warmth from Yasha under her sternum when she heads back towards the fire and ends up settling on the blanket again. That warmth just grows when Jester smiles wide in response to Beau’s confirmation that she’s allowed to spend the night, and it settles there, a soothing presence that feels like it should be shining out.

Later that night, when they’re laying on top of the blankets and carefully holding hands, Beau wearing borrowed pajamas and a smile that feels too big, after she stuttered through admitting her feelings, after Jester had asked her out in a surprisingly shy tone, after they’d kissed and kissed and kissed some more, Beau mentions that warm feeling again. Jester, eyes lit up by the moon, squeezes her hand and tells her that she had been glowing. Beau thinks, as she rubs her thumbs over her girlfriend’s knuckles, that while she probably won’t let her hair grow out, maybe she didn’t need it after all; maybe she was Jester Lavorre’s type all on her own.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this!! Please leave a comment and let me know what you think!
> 
> Special thank you to nevershootamockingbird on here for helping me edit the shit out of this! Go read her work, she has some amazing stories!
> 
> Title is loosely based from lyrics from "Pretty Girl" by Hayley Kiyoko. When I was writing this originally I listened to a lot of Hayley Kiyoko, but especially "Cliff's Edge" (i'm so gay oh my god that song still gets to me) and "Pretty Girl".
> 
> If you'd like to, you can come find me and talk to me on [tumblr](https://lovewithagirl.tumblr.com/) and [twitter!](https://twitter.com/daleytwin2/)


End file.
